Need advice from working Artists?

[avacado pie]

Stay in your home city first, then gain influence in your state, then go to New York. What galleries and collectors (and museums) in New York want to see is that you are established and respected and "vouched for," so to speak, by critics and by awards you have received. You could go to New York and apply to galleries that support emerging artists, but there you will have incredibly fierce competition, and I don't recommend it.

If you stay in your hometown and create a solid foundation of collectors, relationships with galleries, participation in juried shows, and a good amount of exposure in the press, and then expand that to a statewide influence, New York will see much more incentive to welcome you.